Gun rights advocates are jubilant and gun prohibition zealots are furious over the announcement by Attorney General Pam Bondi that she has created a “Second Amendment Task Force” within the Department of Justice “to use its full might to protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.”
Bondi issued a memorandum to all DOJ employees on Tuesday. In her memo, the AG Bondi stated, “For too long, the Second Amendment, which establishes the fundamental individual right of Americans to keep and bear arms, has been treated as a second-class right. No more… President Trump has made protecting the Second Amendment rights a priority for this administration.”
In a statement Wednesday, Bondi amplified what the Task Force will be doing, and why.
“The prior administration placed an undue burden on gun owners and vendors by targeting law-abiding citizens exercising their 2nd Amendment rights,” Bondi said. “The Department of Justice’s new 2nd Amendment Task Force will combine department-wide policy and litigation resources to advance President Trump’s pro-gun agenda and protect gun owners from overreach.”
Reaction from the Second Amendment community was swift.
“This is the news we’ve been waiting for,” said Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. “From the wording of Attorney General Bondi’s memo, it looks like ‘gloves off’ time may have finally arrived. It marks a significant, and welcome change at the Department of Justice, because it is clear we now have leadership in place which treats gun owners as allies instead of antagonists.”
The announcement came just hours before media reports revealed Kash Patel has been “removed” as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He is being replaced as acting ATF director by Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, according to published reports.
However, the term “removed” may not be accurate. Patel’s appointment as acting ATF director was not supposed to be long-term.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation applauded Driscoll’s appointment as acting director.
“President Trump’s decision to appoint Acting Director Driscoll is indicative of his resolve to bring reform to the ATF and protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens and the industry that makes it possible to exercise those rights,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “NSSF is deeply appreciative of FBI Director Kash Patel’s service to lead the ATF as Acting Director for nearly two months in his interim role and the recognition, along with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, that the ATF was weaponized by the previous administration to carry out a radical gun control agenda. The firearm industry is confident that President Trump’s appointment of Acting Director Driscoll to lead the ATF will return the bureau to its proper role as a law enforcement agency laser focused on combatting violent crime and illegal firearms trafficking, and to act as a non-partisan regulator of the firearm industry.”
Bondi’s announcement of the Second Amendment Task Force noted, “I will serve as the Chair of the Task Force and the Associate Attorney General will serve as the Vice Chair. The Task Force will be further composed of representatives from my personal staff, the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the Office of the Associate Attorney General, the Office of the Solicitor General, the Civil Division, the Civil Rights Division, the Criminal Division, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and any other components or representatives that I may from time to time designate to assist in the Task Force’s labors.”
“We’re hoping this bold step by Attorney General Bondi brings an end to years of harassment and penalization of gun owners, and begins the process of dismantling unconstitutional laws and regulations at the federal, state and local levels of government,” CCRKBA’s Gottlieb stated. “The Second Amendment protects a first-class right, and it feels great that after years of fighting this battle, gun owners now have support, rather than resistance, from the Department of Justice, and an administration that is definitely in our corner.
“It’s great to have a Department of Justice defending Second Amendment rights,” he said, “instead of attacking them.”
